Hand attachment means for vibrators and the like



June 9, 1942. s. P. HARRIS 2,286,089

HAND ATTACHMNT MEANS FOR VIBRATORS A'ND THE LIKE Filed Oct. l1, 1940 lii'lli'lliiiliiili fr 1 INVENTQR I um.'

ATTORNEY I Patented .une 9, 1942 A- UN TED Sli"f'l"1ES EIPLATENT or Fics THAND ATTACHMENT MEANS FOR A"VIBRA- TORSAND THE LIKE Sydney P. 4Harris, Stamford, Conn., 'as ,sig-nor `to VSchickIncorporated, a corporation of Delaware AApplication -.0ctober 11, 1940, Serial No. 360,757

3 Claims.

This invention is concerned generally with vibrators and other machines of the kind requiring attachment to the hand of an operator; and has for its object the provision of attachment means capable of being readily applied to and removed from the hand and of holding the machine firmly in place on the hand with a minimum of constriction of the fingers of the operator, which are left free to be manipulated as the work in hand may require.

The construction of the improved hand attachment means will be readily apparent from the accompanying drawing and specification, wherein the invention is shown and described for purposes of illustration as applied to a handvibrator.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an end view of a vibrator having the invention applied to it;

Fig. 2 is a side view, sectioned on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another form.

The details of construction of the vibrator itself form no part of the present invention and for purposes of illustration it is shown simply as including a housing I the base of which is of rectangular shape and dimensioned to seat on the backs of the first, second and third fingers of the hand of an operator over the area bounded by the rst (basal) and the second joints of the fingers. As will be understood, the housing encloses a suitable vibrator unit, such as an electric motor including an unbalanced rotating weight or other mechanism for bodily vibrating the machine to impart vibration to the operators lingers, which in turn are manipulated to apply a vibratory massage to the portion of the anatomy to be treated. The portion of the vibrator which engages the backs of the fingers is shown as a cushion pad 2, which may be of rubber and shaped to conform generally to the contour of the engaged portions of the ngers to restrain endwise displacement as the result of the vibration of the machine.

The means commonly employed to hold a vibrator or other device of this general character in position on the hand is an elastic strap having its ends attached to the ends or sides of the machine and the single depending loop so formed designed to embrace all or most of the fingers; and, since the eicacy of the device, as well as the avoidance of its displacement, requires the maintenance of close contact between its base and the backs of the fingers, such straps, as

usually constructed, undesirably confine the embraced ngers and cramp them all together.

According to the present invention, I employ an attachment member depending from the vibrator between rather than around the fingers and preferably consisting of a more or less wedge-shaped member to seat between adjacent fingers on the underside of the same and held in close engagement with the fingers by the elasticity 0f a fiat strap depending from the vibrator. In the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. l and 2, the base of the vibrator and the cushion pad 2 are shown as provided with slots 3, spaced apart a distance equal to an average finger width,

.\ and, passing through each of such slots, an

elastic band 4. In this preferred form the nger attachment means comprise two molded buttons or wedge-shaped members 5 so formed as to allow their thin ends to penetrate the nger spaces and the enlarged heads or bases to engage the lower side and under portions of the lingers, as indicated by the dotted finger outlines in Fig 2. To further improve the grip of the buttons, with additional comfort to the wearer, the sides of the buttons may be made concave so that, in conjunction with the concavities of the vibrator base, they form parts of more or less circular clamps for the individual ngers.

The buttons are suitably attached to the band 4 and are held snugly in place by its elasticity, the stretch and flexibility of the band accommodating the device readily and comfortably to hands of widely differing sizes. The buttons can be made hollow, as shown, and provided with slots 6 at their upper ends to receive the strap or band 4, the buttons being then conveniently secured to the latter by pins 1, leaving the fleshengaging exterior quite free of projections likely t0 rub or abrade the fingers.

Although preferred, it is not essential that the finger-clamping buttons be formed separately from the straps or connecting portions and in Fig. 3 is illustrated another form of construction in which the attachment means is shown as molded in a single unit, including not only the heads 8 and thin, between-the-nger, connecting portions 9, but also the pad or portion lil to seat on the backs of the fingers. In this case the unit is preferably molded of rubber (natural or synthetic) with the connecting portions 9 of sufficient thinness, flexibility and elasticity to allow lateral displacement of the heads to adjust the unit to fingers of different sizes. Additional lateral adjustability can also be imparted by similarly making thin the central connecting portion Il.

Other forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims and having the advantages of the described constructions will readily be apparent.

I claim:

1. Hand attachment means for vibrators and the like including a base to seat on the backs of the fingers, two substantially flat, exible portions depending therefrom and spaced approximately a finger-width apart to straddle one of the fingers, said flexible portions terminating in wedge-shaped heads extending toward one another and partially beneath the said finger to form an open loop around the same and also extending outwardly to engage under portions of two adjacent fingers.

2. Hand attachment means for Vibrators and the like including a base to seat on the backs of the fingers, two substantially flat, iiexible portions depending therefrom and spaced approximately a ringer-width apart to straddle one of the fingers, said flexible portions terminating in enlarged heads extending toward one another y beneath the said finger to form, with the said SYDNEY P. HARRIS. 

